Fundraising, High School, and Meet us in Santa Barbara!

If you’ve been following The Camino Documentary’s progress, you’re most likely aware of all of the fundraising efforts that have been going on! What you might not know, though, is that there is a particularly special group that has been keeping much of the fundraising hopes alive: Lydia’s high school classmates. That’s right, I said high school classmates. It might be hard to believe, but it’s true!

Lydia went to a rather interesting high school in New Hampshire, Phillips Exeter Academy. Not only is it a boarding school, but it also features the Harkness learning style, which means that in each class 12 students sit around a table with a teacher. Can you imagine how different your high school experience would have been if you lived there and every class felt like a meeting? Seems quite neat to me.

In the past year Lydia has found herself reaching out to any and everyone she has ever known, looking for support to finish this film. Almost thirty years after graduating, it’s her Exeter classmates that have helped the most so far. Almost 25 alums from Exeter have donated, and hopefully more are considering. The ultimate fundraising goal is $225,000 and so far we’re just over $70,000 – more than half of which has come from amazing, generous Exeter alumni! They have been donating money, volunteering their time, and even hosting fundraisers.

In the past year Lydia has found herself reaching out to any and everyone she has ever known, looking for support to finish this film. Almost thirty years after graduating, it’s her Exeter classmates that have helped the most so far. Almost 25 alums from Exeter have donated, and hopefully more are considering. The ultimate fundraising goal is $225,000 and so far we’re just over $70,000 – more than half of which has come from amazing, generous Exeter alumni! They have been donating money, volunteering their time, and even hosting fundraisers.

In fact, we’re excited to announce an upcoming fundraiser, hosted by Exeter alum Polly Firestone Walker, and Melanie Eckford-Prossor. If you are in the Santa Barbara area, please join us on August 19th from 5:30-7pm at the Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church. We will screen our extended 23-minute trailer and follow-up with a Q&A session with Director/Producer Lydia Smith! It’s definitely worth checking out- the trailer really is quite captivating, as is Lydia herself. Her story about walking the Camino and making this film is fascinating and even inspiring! Trust me, it’s truly cool to learn about this project first-hand.

A special thanks goes out to all of the Exeter alums that have donated: Alex Stitt Gifford, Hanson Gifford ’78, John Burbank, John Moran, Ned Hoyt ’81, Polly Firestone Walker, Dana How, Kurt Mortenson ’84, Susan Hoyt, Rebecca Nevitt ’84, Henry Bonner, Bill Jackson, Amy Faulkner, Sue Stafford ’83, Deborah Lustig, Phil Stockton, Jocelyn Miller, Barry Whittle, Nancy Jo Sales, Eiichiro Kuwana, Lea Ward, Andre de Baubigny, Paige Thorner, Becky Riecks, and Walker Bardsley. Thank you also to Kyra Thompson and Phil Stockton who have been working for free as Supervising Producer and Technical Consultant.

Because of the astounding generosity of Exeter alumni (and many more!) and specifically thanks to Alex & Hanson Gifford and John Burbank, we will be able to start editing this fall. The three of them signed on to be Executive Producers, and will now be giving their feedback on rough-cuts throughout the edit process. We’ve raised just enough to start cutting, but nowhere near enough to finish the film. The more that get involved, the closer we get to our goal of $225,000. For those interested in an in-depth look at the post-production and airing expenses we are facing, we are happy to send a detailed budget. Just let us know!

Alright, off I go to reconnect with everyone I went to high school with!